No!
by Teamo-Seto
Summary: This is my poem based on the the final scene of The Boy in the Striped pajamas. It tells from the POV of German teen Hannalore, running to free her brother Reinhardt and his Jewish friend from the gassing. Read and review. PS: you will need tissues.


I slide under the fence,

Run through the cold mud

Listening for his voice

Begging, pleading to God

That he will be alive.

His nine years of life do not deserve

To be cut off this short

Reinhardt, Reinhardt.

The soldiers try to stop my path

I shove them out of my way

'Bruno!' I scream,

Tears fall down my cheeks like waterfalls

Rain slicks my hair to my head

An alarm bell sounds in my mind

He'll be gone soon, hurry!

Reinhardt, Reinhardt.

I run through the open door

Stand in the doorway

Of the steel vault

Holding the cruelty

The scars of my people:

The stripe-clothed ones.

Reinhardt! Reinhardt!

I scan the sallow faces

I spot my brother's face

His hands around his friend

His imaginary friend who is

A real boy

A Jewish boy

Oh, Reinhardt, Reinhardt!

I envelope them in my arms

Sobbing into their shoulders

A thin skeleton to my right

A plump corpse to my left

Hands try to pull me away

I beat the soldiers off.

No! No!

'I'll be alright, Hannelore'

Reinhardt calls

'They'll keep us from the rain.'

'I love you, brother, and your friend too.'

'I am Polov' the skeleton calls.

'I love you both! Your mothers love you!'

I call, fearing the worst.

Never seeing either again.

I am pulled out of the vault

The door closes

An impenetrable wall

Between my brother and I.

Screams fill the gassed air behind the wall.

My fists echo on the metal door.

REINHARDT, REINHARDT!

Father races across the field

Through the gate

Through the wire fence

That divided our worlds

The divided my peaceful home

And this hell my brother is in.

But are we too late.

A woman stands behind me

'My son! Polov!'

She calls through the wall.

'I told him you love him.'

I reply, staring at the wall.

We both cry for our loved ones

Who we will never see or hear again.

The sounds inside are silenced.

All my hope is gone.

I throw back my head and scream.

'REINHARDT!'

'POLOV!'

My common woman screams.

Our families shattered.

I slam my fists into the guards.

'You let him die!' I scream.

'You let my brother die!'

They hold me back

From the pain and sadness

From my memories.

Oh, Reinhardt. Oh, Polov.

I stare at a soldier with tear streaked eyes

'Let me in.' I beg.

He lets me step in

Hands me a gas mask.

The simple protection

Reinhardt and Polov did not have.

Oh, my darling Reinhardt.

The steel door opens.

A portal to hell.

I step with mud-covered feet

Over the thin wire-framed corpses.

The yellow see-through skin,

The thin bones.

Ghosts of torture.

I find the boys on the stone floor

Hands still intertwined.

I am afraid to cry

For fear of ruining their memories.

I lift them up gently

Worried they will shatter in my hands.

Like shards of glass.

Like memories I have lost.

I take them to a shower

Wash off the poisonous gas.

Step out through the outside door.

Emotionless, shielding the onslaught

Of pain, sadness, and hatred

For these torturers.

For the men I once called my people.

I hand Polov to his mother

Undoing my brother's fingers

Breaking apart their last earthly link.

The woman sobs into the corpse

I gingerly remove the mask,

Put my face into my brother's skin

Crumple to the ground and sob.

Father touches my shoulder

I look up to his blurry face.

'He's dead.' I hiss.

'I will never speak to him again.'

I cry again, throw back my head and scream.

"NO!!"

Soldiers around me circle

Their trained masks break

At a young girl's pain

For her lost brother

They see a mother lose her son

A sister lose her brother

They silently cry.

I stand up on shaky legs

Turn to the mother.

'They will forever remain friends.'

I tell her. 'And we will remain common women

For the loss that we have shared.'

We nod goodbye, and turn away.

Remaining connected like our menfolk.

I walk through the camp

My brother's face on my shoulder.

Jewish folk see a German teen

Suffer the pain they have

Of losing family to the dreaded gas.

My heart goes out to these people

Different than I, but yet the same.

I turn to my father in anger.

'How can the _Führer_ allow this?

All this death? All these corpses?

The broken families, the tortured people?

We are separated by religion,

But they are people as we are.

How can he let this happen?'

'It is his intention to cleanse

This country of impure blood.'

My father says,

Pain lining his deep voice.

Our hearts speak what our mouths cannot.

'_How can we be proud of this country_

_Of that devil with what he has caused?'_

My mother stands with my sister

On the other side of the fence.

They scream in anguish

As they see Reinhardt's crumpled form

Resting in my arms.

Tears flow freely down our faces.

Reinhardt, Reinhardt.

I look up and see two doves

Flying up to the sky

Connected by wingtips.

I smile at this sign.

'Reinhardt will rest in heaven.'

I say, marvelling at this sight

'Ignoring the dark events of this day.'

We bury Reinhardt in the garden

My heart sealed in his memory.

Polov rests in the land of the camp

On the other side of the fence.

I meet Polov's sister, Kirsten there.

We meet as our brothers did.

And Though walls divide us,

Hope unites us.

She looks like me, but sicker.

Her blond hair hangs listless and dirty

Her blue striped uniform hangs

Loosely on her thin body.

'I can't survive here any longer.'

She says. 'Neither can my family.'

I reply, 'By our brothers' memories

I promise I will set your family free.'

Under darkness, I pull Kirsten through

The hole under the boundary fence

Her parents follow

As does her little brother, Sören

We run through the forest

Into my house

As I risk my life for these people.

My family welcomes them

But we rush into our plan.

Kirsten's family goes to our bathroom

They strip and wash in our shower

I wash the striped uniforms

Fold them, and put them away

To keep a solemn memory

They dress and hide away

In a secret compartment

Under my floor.

They hand me armbands

With David's Star on it.

This goes in my baby trunk,

With Reinhardt's things, my things,

and the uniforms.

In the morning, they pack small bags

Kirsten protests as I give her

My travelling purse to carry

The clothes and gear she and Sören will need.

Sören gets Reinhardt's birthday clothes

And his shiny black boots.

Oh, Reinhardt, I hope I know

What I am doing.

We walk to the train station

Eva, Kirsten and I hold hands

Sören dances around our feet.

I pay for the tickets for their family

So they can go to Switzerland

To start a new life

To be free.

The train comes in one hour,

So I sit with Eva, Kirsten and Sören

I draw all four of us sitting here

Kirsten's plumper body

After a good breakfast

All four of us are smiling

Ready to separate.

I draw the adults

Solemnly exchanging news

And Jewish gossip.

I know Father will write a book

Telling of the horrors that we have seen.

Secretly, I hope one copy goes to the Fürher.

Just so he knows.

We hug as the train comes

Pulling into the station like a noisy chariot

'I bet our brothers are watching us right now.'

I tell Kirsten.

She smiles, and nods.

We hug one more time,

Tears of sadness and joy in our eyes.

The train pulls away from the station.

The four of us wave to the four inside.

Relief fills me

Knowing they will be safe.

'Godspeed,' I call.

Kirsten sticks her head out the window

'Godspeed,' she replies

Although we do not share the same god,

We can still be friends.

'I know now, Reinhardt.'

I whisper to the sky.

'We did the right thing.

And we did it for you and Polov.

They escaped the cruelty we saw.

God bless you, and Polov, and

His family, as they set off

To a new free life.

I love you, brother.'

Somewhere inside me

I feel as if Polov and Reinhardt

Are looking down at me

And the train

Smiling and laughing

And running towards the bright light

That is heaven.


End file.
